Total Party Kill 2/3/12: Now with More Butterment

Howdy! For those few of you out there who keep up with this blog, you may have noticed I barely did anything  here over the last week. Well, I've been more busy than usual, especially with GOTTACON coming up... in fact, GOTTACON starts today!

I look forward to GOTTACON every year, and not just because they invite me to come do things. If you are too damned lazy to look up GOTTACON, the nutshell version is that its a gaming convention that happens every year right here in Victoria, BC, Canada. All kinds of cool games and such can be found there. Panels with special guests, too. Seriously, check it out. Here's another link to their site.

At this GOTTACON, I will be excessively busy, it seems. The convention organizers have me on two panels: "So You Want To Write A..." with other writers more awesome at writing than I am, I'm sure, and "DM Roundtable" where I sit around with other consummate DMs and talking DMing and such.

I will also be working my part-time job's booth, Style N Print, selling shirts-- including the official GOTTACON shirts. We'll also be able to show off our Direct To Garment thing, where we can create shirts for you in minutes.

And finally, I will be running a Warhammer 40,000: Dark Hersey RPG game tonight, from 7 to 11 PM. I call it "Logan's World Run", and the PCs are Adeptus Arbites personnel, sent to the wild place that is Hellsreach on Logan's World... a planet that only fans of the original Warhammer 40k Rogue Trader will know about.

Anyhowitzer, here's a link to the two posts (two??? wow) I've done this week:

Traveller OGL: Alienist [RPG Review]
This is covering a short and inexpensive PDF supplement for the new Traveller rules. Review material courtesy of Postmortem Studios.

Hardcore Book pr0n: First Edition Timez
Figuring I have to use "pr0n" in another feature name, this one is about books I find or rediscover. And I found a Spelljammer novel and a couple other nice treats.

And that's it for posts...

As far as other things going on, author Ryan Speck and I finally recorded the podcast thing we've been talking about for years. We called our evil worm-baby MouthFist. As with nearly all first ventures into podcasting, we had a few massive technical difficulties and we almost scrapped this episode. But Ryan, who's producing it, didn't want to re-record... so, out of sheer lethargy, I suppose, he edited the hell out of it... and aside from the weird static bursts, it turned out okay. Please, check it oot at yer leisure:

MouthFist Podcast, Episode 0: Fudginating with Hitler

Using our mouth-fists for the butterment of mankind. 

Master Nerd points will be handed out to anyone who can tell me where we shamelessly stole our logo from. Please be a good sport and try to answer BEFORE you look it up on ze Googles!

Now let's get to some links really quick-like...

A great take on the whole "Before Watchmen" Watchmen comics coming out...

...And Markosia's Ian Sharman offering a different viewpoint on the whole affair.

Looking for a great artist to drool over? How about one of my favourite Swedes, Peter Bergting? His art rocks, folks. A few years he gave me a copy of Gangkrig 145 (Gangwar 145), which I enjoyed (despite me not knowing Swedish). Recently he masterfully crafted the art for Joe Lansdale's The Dunwich Horror comics from IDW. Lovecraft fans, take serious note here. I'll cover the comics, soon, but you must pick these issues up. Now.

For the full preview from IDW, go here.

Here's an interesting site where I saw this blog listed. Its called 6D6 Fireball, and it's worth perusing. And it's not just a cool site with interesting things, but it also has the 6D6 rules system.

I'll have to check it out more in-depth sometime-- but it does look quite good.


I really wish I could keep going, but I need to get out the door for GOTTACON. It's going to be an action-packed weekend, folks. Hope to see a few of you there!

And I promise to do a Midnight Mini pr0n soon.

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Questions? Comments? Hit me. Or email me. 

Traveller OGL: Alienist [RPG Peek-a-Review]

Considering I haven't been doing a lot of roleplaying game coverage in my blog, I figured it's about time I did. And what better than to start off with one of my fave indie RPG publishers? Postmortem Studios is the small-but-mighty ship James "Grim" Desborough calls his own, and he always gets very talented folks to work with him. This has culminated into a steady stream of numerous releases for the RPG market, most, if not all, being carried by one of the best places to find e-versions of an incredible variety of RPG products: RPG NOW.

One thing first, though. You may notice I have earmarked this entry "Peek-a-Review". What the hell does that mean, anyway? Simple: I don't usually like doing super long and comprehensive reviews. Or maybe I haven't playtested them (as is the case here). I guess I'm, um, sorry if that bothers you. What I prefer is talking about the item, maybe whine about it if it offends my delicate sensibilities, or maybe I unleash the hyperbolese and go gibber-faced insane. Who knows. But if you want a review that reads like a badass Homeric poem, I simply cannot recommend RPG.net enough.

Anyway, on to Alienist, dammit.

The Copy
"A full career path for the Traveller OGL Many people are fascinated by alien cultures but for some it becomes an obsession and for a few, exceptional people they become a part of the culture that fascinates them. Accepted in a way that most never could be. Caught between their own people and their obsession, the Alienist is a bridge between disparate cultures separated by light years, psychology and even biology."

What You Get
The Alienist PDF is a rather short affair, and is pretty no-frills. There isn't even a credits page. It clocks in at nine pages, six of which are what I call "Meat Pages"; as in, ones with rules and aren't OGL licence stuff or the cover. The Meat Pages are breviloquent* concerning the description of the Alienist class, and it still manages to be well-written. Then you get a few pages of charts which are laid out in a way that almost made me go cross-eyed at first... However, when I look at the specific part of the chart I need to read, it's not so bad. Charts and tables are available for Skills & Training, Career Progress, Ranks and Benefits, Mustering Out Benefits, Mishaps, and Events. You probably won't be surprised when I say the Mishaps and Events ones are my favourites. And, indeed, reading through them was interesting, but not as entertaining as I had hoped. Then again, Postmortem most likely made the right decision in that case. There are some new rules and new equipment, too, with the new skill "Integration" making perfect sense when an Alienist is immersing themselves in an alien culture (I hear this becomes problematic for those Alienists visiting LV-426). The major standout in the equipment section is "Bodyswap" (TL 14, by the way), in which someone who feels they are born to the wrong species-- called "xenodismorphia"-- can, well, you know, fully integrate themselves. Pretty neat, really. There are a few more items and then that's it... roll License Agreement. To me, everything looks fairly balanced and it's excessively unlikely it will break anything.
(*Yes, this is a word. I find it friendlier sounding than "laconic".)


Art und Layout
Overall, the art and layout remain cost-effective without looking too cheap. The cover art is decent enough, and doesn't make me want to kill myself. Always a good thing, I suppose. It's really not bad, man. In fact, I dig it. Have you seen some of the art in indie games out there? Yee-ikes. There is not much more art to be had aside from the cool cyberspacepunky border bits; which I love, honestly. The layout is simple, single column style, which you should be able to read with ease. There is the aforementioned problem with the tables and the like, which look a bit crammed to me. But once you need to find a particular listing, you should have no problem. As for the editing? It's good. Being the nitpicking editor bastard (and obvious hypocrite) I am, I like the cut of this product's editing jib.

Bang For Your Buck
There is no other way to say it: This mofo be fiddy cents, dawg. That's right: 50 cents. Bang/Buck-wise, this is rockin' and rockin' hard.

The Bottom Line
Look, I promise that next time I'll have something cooler for my "in conclusion" title thing... But the bottom line is that if you play Mongoose's Traveller, you should totally check this out. It's cheap, it's informative and to the point, and I really don't know when the last time I saw something so cool and nifty that's dropped right into any Traveller game for the price of making a crazy homeless dude leave you alone. Personally, I'd put it in my Traveller game if I were running one. And that reminds me: I need to run one. I am dying to do a Judge Dredd or Strontium Dog game. The Alienist class would work well with them, too. I'll let y'all know how that works out when I get there.


Lethality: The vessel had a crew of six brave souls who went to go check out that alien world and ended up on the dead and/or bugshit poopers side of things. One man made it back. He was carrying two arms, one of which still clutched a ray gun. Or maybe it was a newer model hairdryer.

If you play Traveller you would be doing yourself a disfavour not buying this.

You can purchase it here.


Wow, this was MUCH longer than I anticipated. I would like to thank Postmortum Studios for sending review material my way. I will be featuring and reviewing more of their products in the near future, including talking about one of them on the upcoming MouthFist Podcast.


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Comments are always welcome. Except from you. Yeah, you. You know I'm talking about you-- yeah, over there. And, of course, there's the email option.

Midnight Mini pr0n: Reaper 012312--GO!

Hello, you magnificent creatures of bastarddom--

Wait. Is there two d's in "bastarddom"? That's gonna bug me.

Welcome to another Midnight Mini pr0n! Tonight's pr0n features an old favourite of mine and many of yours': Reaper Minatures.

Reaper is one of those outfits who produce consistently awesome and affordable minis. They have an incredible selection to pick from and they even have very nice paints. Just go and poke around their site for a while. You'll spend hours there... and then? And then you'll want to order stuff.

And then?

And then you'll notice they give free shipping on orders of $25 or more for the USA... and CANADA! This means a lot to me, as I complain a lot about shipping from the US to here.

This Midnight, I invite you to take a look at what new treats Reaper has to offer today (or, technically, yesterday, but whatevs).

CLICK ON THIS LINK AND BEHOLD, SON (OR DAUGHTER).

Now I will show you what I love. Now, I'm no miniatures racist. I love them all... but there ARE ones I prefer more than others.

You know, kinda like how I am with my kids*.
(*Obvious joke is obvious. Right? Pleasedon'thurtme.)

"Damn your hammers of war! I said GO THAT WAY!!"

Looking above this text, you may instantly understand why the combination of Reaper Miniatures and designer Bobby Jackson are a match made in heaven. You can go directly to the listing for "Erik Proudfoot, Intergalactic Marine" here. You will also want to see more of Mr. Jackson's Intergalactic Marines-- and don't worry, I got yor back. Just GO HERE.

Moving right along, another standout new fig for me from Reaper is "Shadowguard, DkRch", also by-- wait for it... waaaait-- Bobby Jackson! Check it:

"Yep. I'm totally badass, yo."

But all minis can't be swaggering badass mofos created by Bobby Jackson (who, I bet, has laser shooting eyes and a chainsaw fist). This next one is nicely crafted by one Patrick Keith. It is very badass in its own subtle way.

"Bitch, where my shoes at?"

It's hard to find a great female miniature these days, you know? Well done, Mr. Keith. Quite elegant. The entry for "Trinia Sabor" is HERE.

While all the new minis Reaper are offering as of today [ed: yesterday-- okay, well technically technically, this week] are, in fact, freaking neat-o, these three really grabbed me.

My thanks to @minireaper, which is where you find Reaper Miniatures on ze Twitter. They are a most-follow for minis-fans, by the by, as they are incredibly helpful and communicative. I'm assuming they also must love tacos, too.

I hope you've enjoyed this latest dose of pr0n! I do have one question to leave you with:

Midnight Mini pr0n will always happen at Midnight when I post it-- but which timezone should I use for the posting time? Right now it's posted with my timezone, PST, in mind. Thoughts? Go ahead and sound off your vote in the comments. Or email me if yer shy.

Mini Profile: Epic Wargaming

Once in a while, I'm going to want to profile certain companies and people. It's good to get the Good Word out there, right? To kick this off, I would like to start with paper miniatures and wargaming rules outfit Epic Wargaming and the very likable guy behind it, Dave...

...and Dave was nice enough to send me the following, explaining what Epic Wargaming is all about:

"I started Epic because I love wargaming, but I’m not a fan of painting and the cost of it. So, that left me with print-and-play wargaming, but I soon found there isn't that much of it out there and thus decided to write my own game: Three Plains."

Read this fir-- No! Don't do THAT first!

"Three Plains is an old-world fantasy setting with Orcs, Elves and Goblins all fighting it out. Why? Because that’s my thing, simply."

And what's a fantasy game without Orcs, I ask?

"Three Plains is game not too different from Warhammer Fantasy Battles, but has more depth and realism than WFB, or so I believe. Characters and elite troops in Warhammer just dominated the field and as I got older I wanted to see more realistic games, where troops get tired and characters can be slain by the hands of commoners, and that’s what Three Plains is all about really. I know that mixing the words realistic and fantasy together sounds silly, but that's what Three Plains is. For instance, take the 'March Over Rule': it means you can march straight over characters which would otherwise hold up entire units of men."

Look at all those spearmen!!

"Reading this you might think it’s all my own work, but you would be wrong, as many people have put something in the game over the years now; far too many to mention. Then again, the game testers Tom, Alex, Matty and Trish have really shaped the game and brought it on more recently. 

"At the moment I would say the game is half finished, as I have some massive plans for it next year, like adding 3 more armies and adding a siege game on to it as well. So, we have our work cut out for us and, eh, better get back to it..."

I really dig this Imperial Elf dude a lot.

As you can no doubt see, Epic Wargaming and Three Plains are labors of love. Did you know "labor of love" abbreviates to "LOL"? It does. And no, I haven't gotten sick of that joke. But my point here is, it's nice to see that while Dave and his comrades are having oodles of fun with this, it's still not a laughing matter.

Because wargaming is deadly serious.

Well, okay, more like deadly expensive. And I know, I know-- there are those of you saying "Paper minis? PAH. Poop to that, I proclaim!". Think about it, though... 

1) They're cheap. Sometimes free. And the look pretty darned good. 

2) They are crazy easy to transport.

3) If you bash them up, you can always print out new ones.

4) If you aren't using paper terrain at all you are either insane or rich and insane. Or both.

5) They save you tons of time, because you don't have to paint or assemble them.

6) They also save you time.
7) Have I mentioned the time-saving measures?

8) Oh, and they're cheap.
8b) In the case of Epic Wargaming, they're FREE.

Just because they're inexpensive doesn't mean they have to suck, though. Epic Wargaming shows that you can get good looking little dudes on the cheap AND not be pointed and laughed at. Be sure to check out their terrain, too.

You can always use more terrain.

So there you go. Now, be off with you, as you are itching to get to the EPIC WARGAMING SITE.

When I get a little time I'll set some of these neat paper minis and terrain up and take some pics.

--

Big thanks to Dave for sending me his thoughts and images. As per usual, if you have any questions for me, drop me a comment or an email.

Midnight Mini pr0n: Crudely Cute Crooked Corn Dolls

Got a very short installment of The Mini pr0n for you...

Check these out:

"...and if we hear ANY more 'Thriller in Indiana' jokes..."

Brought to you by the fine, twisted minds of Crooked Dice Game Design Studio. They not only have minis, but they also do games, as well.

Read more about their amazing Corn Dolls, dammit.

You can see more more of what they have to offer, like A Clockwork Orange-ish minis, in their miniatures section here. Good prices and decent shipping rates, if you ask me. Hopefully I'll get around to ordering the Corn Dolls when I get a chance.

I can see a serious What the Fucking Fuck Moment occurring in a Dark Heresy game when I toss these guys at my players...

That's all the Midnight Mini pr0n you get for now. Sleep tight!

--

Questions? Suggestions? Adoring words of love and raccoons? Hit me as hard as you can in the comments or email me.

Midnight Mini pr0n - Reaper Madness [Minis!]

I'd like to debut Midnight Mini pr0n here on Diary of a Grognerd. I've been posting them in my Livejournal for a little while now, but I thought it was best over here (though I'll be sure to link from my LJ). Feel free to comment here or there! I'll try to post awesome miniatures here every night at midnight (or thereabouts-- hey, it's always midnight somewhere). Suggestions as to what to check out and post are ALWAYS welcome.

Be sure to click on the pics for more info, and to see the minis in their unpainted glory and from other angles!

Today's Mini pr0n is brought to you by the magnificent REAPER MINIATURES, a terrific company that can suit nearly all of your tabletop RPG needs!



That's a GNOME. Hell yeah!




HAWT.




And WOW, those Sea Elves are great!





I would like one of the above, please.




I have the above Blackguard. Um, he doesn't look that good, though.


And there are SO SO SO many more to be found at the Reaper Miniatures site.
GET SOME.


See you at the next... MIDNIGHT MINI PR0N!!

Update [Updates!]

Heya! Don't worry, I'll be adding more stuff to this blog soon. I just needed a little break-- whilst using my Birthday Time as the perfect excuse. I'm also playing through Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion of the first time and I'm really enjoying, though it's no Morrowind. I hope I can give my thoughts on this in the future.

For now, here's a link to a nice, short interview with late, great Bob Bledsaw (of Judges Guild-- RIP, sir), from way, way back in Pegasus #2! Yeah, it's interesting to note they made a tidy sum in sales and it's also incredibly fascinating to take a look at the mindset of indie games publishers from the early days of RPGs.


Right, so I blame to do a list of short reviews soon to catch up. Let's see if I can hold myself to that lofty goal...

TOTAL PARTY KILL #3

Hey folks! If you don't mind, I would like to direct your attention to my latest column-thing of TOTAL PARTY KILL over at Comics Waiting Room.

This fortnight I cover some stuff like my thoughts on D&D 4e, Mutant Future (a brilliant Gamma World semi-clone, available as a free PDF), Houses of the Blooded (or rather, the $5 deal!), Twilight: 2013, some bits about Warhammer 40k: Dark Heresy and how I think it runs (so far), One Monk Miniatures (some of the best paper minis out there-- seriously! And they're giving away FREE DEEP ONES!!), Hirst Arts (they make moulds so you can make your own plaster terrain pieces), Gun Street Girl (a terrific webcomic involving a kick-ass woman and the magician she works for), Conan the Cimmerian #2, Libris Mortis and The Bonegarden as idea mines, Fate: Undiscovered Realms (a fun new Diablo-like), JESUS HATES ZOMBIES (featuring Lincoln Hates Werewolves!!), Sails of Blood (pirates!), The Harvest War over at Zuda.com (fantasy!), and a bunch of little things you'll digm like a great rpg that fits on a sheet of paper and a links to more free crap.

So, please... get to it and tell me what ye thinks!




This latest issue of CWR has lots of great stuff, including comic book reviews; a director's cut of Brandon Jerwa and Eric Tarutmann's Wide Awake: Behind the Wall of Sleep from the new Popgun 2 anthology-- which is shown on CWR in it's 9 page entirety! (and it's AWESOME); a new Jess Knows Best (geek advice column!); an interview with the creator of The Devil's Panties; and Elliott (two Ts!) Serrano showing us the future of DC Comics movies!... plus much, much more.

A very engrossing issue of Comics Waiting Room for sure. :)

(X-posted in my Livejournal!)

Movie Review: Darkon

“I’ve always felt like I was kind of born out of time.”

It's about time I do a short movie review on here, so here goes.

I've heard good things about Darkon, a documentary on Live Acrion Roleplayers (LARPers) released way back in the Year of Our Lord 2006. To be honest, I expected to not like it-- even though I spent a couple years in the SCA way back when. I just envisioned this over-the-top dork-fest that would make me to be embarrassed to be a gamer.

You know, like most LARPers.

Thankfully, the horror was not to be and I was pleasantly surprised and fascinated by this film. The premise is simple enough: The medieval-esque land of Darkon is in upheaval due to kingdoms vying to overthrow who they perceive as an evil empire. Except, Darkon is located in Baltimore, and the countries featured are just groups of people who meet up a couple times a month and dress up to battle it out and/or socialize. Sound retarded? Well, it isn't. In fact, I found it to be pretty damned cool. Sure, the people featured are classic gaming nerds, ones who wish to escape into a land of make-believe and craft some kick-ass costumes and armour in the time being.

Pretty much like any gamer, really... except they actually do it "off the table".

What's great about this movie is how it's presented. There is an overall story where the young country of Laconia seeks to challenge the hegemony of mighty Mordom. It's the fantasy LARP version of David and Goliath, actually. And it is compelling! It had me wishing there was a sequel after the exciting climatic boffer battle at the end. Interspersed with the main story are the players, who talk about their life, triumphs and a lot of woe. It's hard being a nerd, you see, and one of the primary protagonists, the fellow who leads Laconia, talks about how his family was tore up from shady sibling dealing over his late father's games empire. Talk about rough!

I could go on and on, but that would ruin this fine story for any of you who haven't seen it. The greatest strength of Darkon is how it's presented. There is no narration, only occasional explanatory words on the screen. This story is told from the view of the main characters, and it takes no sides. But if you're like me, you'll end up rooting for Laconia.

The cinematography is wonderful, with great accompanying sound to boot. Some of the people featured would make nice actors themselves and the mood in general is quite positive. It all made me wish there was a Darkon Wargaming Club here, where I live.

Get your copy and more info here.


Lethality: Throngs of screaming nerds armed with boffer swords, axes and hammers lightning bolt the living crap out of the party. No one survives... until next time. TPK in the extreme.

I Blame 40k

I was going to post a review today-- and maybe I still will before I go to bed later. But right now I'm getting ready to run an online game of Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy using a mix of Skype and OpenRPG. We'll see how it works oot!

I also spent some time today talking about the proper way Jesus should hate on the undead.


It's important, you know.

TOTAL PARTY KILL #2

Just covering my personal blog-assosphere, and posting that the new TOTAL PARTY KILL column is up over at Comics Waiting Room!

What should you expect to get your grubby eye-mitts on? Here's a taste:

"In this installment, you can find coverage on the following: Chaosium’s Basic RPG, Pathfinder RPG Beta, a couple terrain treats from Fat Dragon Games, me not really covering Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy , Grey Ranks, Foundry miniatures, some excellent ideas sources via MonkeyGod Enterprises, Geneforge 4 and other tasty items.

I’ll also give you my quick opinion on the following comics: Red Sonja #36, Fall of Cthulhu: Godwar #1, Crossed #0, Army of Darkness #11, Knights of the Dinner Table Special #1, H.P. Lovecraft’s Haunt of Horror, Dragonlance Legends #1, The Gloom, two Warhammer 40k comics and more…"

So... what are you waiting for?

GO HERE NOW, plz.


Lethality: What? You need a Lethality Rating? Pah! Not to toot my own galleon-load of trumpets, but I think TPK is a triple TPK at least this bi-week. So there.

RPG Jaunts: Judge Dredd d20

You might be wondering what the "RPG Jaunts" bit means in the subject line. Well, it's my attempt to have a regular thing on here where I go over my old role-playing game books and talk about them a little. Maybe you haven't seen these products before, and maybe you don't care. I primarily do this for me-- and the hope that perhaps one of you will take interest in what I'm yabbling about.

Today's Jaunt is about one of my favourite rpgs of all time: Judge Dredd (who happens to be my favourite comic bok character of all time), released in 2002. Now, you'll hear a lot of noise about how Games Workshop's earlier rpg offering is the quintessential Drredd RPG. To me, and a probably a handful of others out there, the d20 variation of Dredd is a bit better. Personally, I like it more because it uses a universal system, and a rules-set that is easily tweakable to suit my needs. If I read something for, say, d20 Gamma World or d20 Modern, I can apply it to d20 Dredd, no drokking sweat. Also, though the GW Dredd is excellent and a classic in its own right, I feel Mongoose's d20 Dredd handles the property better.

I'll tell you one thing, citizens: I'm not cracking open the GW Dredd books for information about the Dreddverse. And this brings me to the next point... If you are a fan of the Judge Dredd comic (as you very well should be), d20 Dredd is a great sourcebook. It kinda reminds me of how west End Games' old Star Wars books were (and still are) valuable SW Universe reference guides. Authors use them, fans used them, comic writers used them. Mongoose did a great job doing the same thing with compiling and fleshing out the Dreddverse. This isn't just a roleplaying game-- it's a portal into the world of Judge Dredd. It's your key to The Big Meg. It's absolutely irresistible, by Grud.

The rules given are simple enough if you are familiar with the d20 system. In fact, I feel this game is a better, if not simpler, take on d20 Modern. All you really need, aside from this main rulebook, is the Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook 3rd Edition (or 3.5) book. And even that's debatable, as you can get the SRD online for free... I never had to look up anything in the D&D book, myself. At least I don't think I did. If you just have the Judge Dredd book, then you should be fine just winging it if you are in need of anything else. I suppose that's the biggest problem with this game; winging it happens often.

Classes are incredibly non-complex. You can play a judge or a citizen (who's into criminal enterprise, no doubt). There are many different types of each you can play. Psi Judge? Got it. Citi-Def Soldier? No problem. Tek Judge? You can do it. SJS? If I tell you any more on this one, I'll have to kill you, punk. You can even play a Dunk or a Failed Cadet (who could be Wally Squad!). But it's usually either Judges or Citizens. No mixing them up. Now, when I ran a few games of this, I created a media class (based on a modified version of Private Investigator) and attached him to a squad of Judges. Another time, it was Citi-Def and Judges. The only problem with that one was the Citi-Def players were only good for a couple sessions, as why would they be permanently attached to the Justice Department? Of course, if I had played more with that bunch we would have just formed a special unit to keep them on. Oh, and the media guy? He was eventually killed. By friendly-fire if I remember correctly...

Judge Dredd to me played out like a game of Cyberpunk 2020 meets SLA Industries with a little Paranoia tossed in for good measure. The Dreddverse is a place rife with satire and in-jokes. It's rather weird to have a D&D book sitting around in case it's needed, and to be honest, I think that's what put a lot of Dredd fans off on this game. Otherwise, everything is quite smooth and simple, as I've said. You have the usual skills, feats, and character generation stuff modified for Dredd. The layout is nice too, with only a few small glitches. Some of the art (which is striaght from 2000 AD!) looks pixelated in spots, and there are a few typos (surprise, surprise, I know). The binding on my copy has cracked and is somewhat weak. I'm sure after a few dozen more readings it will fall off. There are some FANTASTIC full-colur bits, including a decent map, art, and Tek-Division specs on a few items. I'm pretty sure I've seen all of these visuals before in other places, which is fine by me. It's nice to have them in one place. I do wish there was original artwork; but then again, original artwork is risky. It could turn out horrible and foul everything up.

Could Dredd d20 be better? Sure. There's lots of room for more stuff and there's always my wish that it was twice as big. Still, to be fair, Mongoose crammed a lot into these 256 pages. Thankfully, the sourcebooks and adventures which follow this book are even better! I'll be sure to cover them really soon, because they are some of the rpg books I like best out there.

Is this rulebook worth it? If you are a Dredd fan, a roleplayer and can find it: Stomm, yes. I did a dance of joy when I picked this up, and I am still enjoying it. I hear Mongoose has pulled their Dredd products due to the fact they're out of print. Considering Mongoose has their own book-printing set-up, I reckon they are gearing up for the new Traveller-rules version. You can bet I'll be getting that, too.

You can find copies of the Judge Dredd d20 RPG all over the place, and if you need a place to start, try Amazon.com.

And if you do play this game, and you need some extra Judges, here are some paper-minis a nice fan was kind enough to put up.


Lethality: Five out of the six perps are pasted by some hi-ex rounds. The survivor is going to be spending the rest of his life in the 'cubes.

A quick and FATAL update...

Hey, remember that game that everyone likes to say is one of the most messed up games EVAR? Remember FATAL? Well, it seems some nice person dug up a link to it for an RPGnet thread. Huzzah! It's been so hard to find as of late.

Now you can see what all the fuss is about.
Yes! The full game! Fo' frees, even.

Be warned, it's some delightfully crude stuff. If encountering the immortal Anal Circumference table or finding out how heavily detailed rape should go down in a medieval fantasy setting bothers you, then this might not be your cup of goatse tea (goatstea?). If you are like me and howl with laughter when reading things of this nature, then by all means please give it a look. Oooo! And the spell mishaps are awesome. Pure awesome.


Of course, it would be downright criminal if I don't talk more about FATAL sometime. I know many others have... but I haven't. Should be fun.

Now that I have Synnibar and FATAL in my collection, my life is fulfilled.

My work here today is complete.